Binghamton University Senior Erik van Ingen finished sixth in the men’s 1,500 at the NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships on Saturday afternoon.
By finishing in the top eight, will earns first-team All-America honors for the second time in his career.
The four-day meet is being hosted by Drake University.
Seeded 11th heading into the 12-runner final, van Ingen finished with a furious kick down the stretch to clock a time of 3:44.71.
In the process, he edged out NCAA Indoor Champion Miles Batty of BYU, who was seventh (3:45.07). Matthew Centrowitz of Oregon won the event (3:42.54) followed by Dorian Ulrey of Arkansas (3:43.06) and Abdi Hassan of Arizona (3:43.95).
Saturday’s race closed out a banner year for van Ingen.
He was fifth in the mile at the NCAA Indoor Championships back in March and placed a career-best 43rd at the NCAA Cross Country Championships back in November.
van Ingen will join Rory Quiller as the only Binghamton athlete to earn multiple Division I All-America honors. Quiller was a three-time All-American and captured the national championship at the 2008 Indoor Meet. van Ingen’s fifth-place performance at the NCAA Indoor Championships clinched his first career All-America honor.
The 2011 NCAA Outdoor Championships marks the fifth time in his career that van Ingen has competed at a NCAA Division I national meet. He also advanced to the 2009 Cross Country Meet and the 2010 NCAA Indoor Championships.
NOTE: The USTFCCCA will release its list of 2011 NCAA Division I Outdoor Track & Field All-Americans on Monday afternoon … van Ingen and Quiller are two of seven Binghamton athletes that have earned NCAA Division I All-America honors. The others are Yun Qu (2002 women’s swimming), Kevin McKeown (2004 men’s lacrosse), Graham Munro (2005 men’s soccer), John Patterson (2009 wrestling) and Justin Lister (2010 wrestling).
